WHAT?!?

We will call this the McCann "what are you talking about?" look.  Found these startled pictures of all the girls. If you can't tell they go from youngest to oldest, starting with Mary Neal and ending with Lucy.  Love seeing how different and yet similar they all look. 

Ladies in Red

Its not often that I think to jump in the picture with my kids. But after reading this blog on taking pictures with your kids, I realized this is definitely something I want to make a habit of.  On this particular Sunday we all ended up in red without even realizing it, so of course it was picture worthy. I love my little ladies and all their different personalities. 

A Quick Christmas Recap

Aunt Curly came to town on her horse  along with Gannie and Mac and the celebrating began.  We enjoyed lots of play as well as a fun traditional things we do every year around town. 

This little girl was so excited about her toothbrush in her stocking that she had to brush her teeth right then.  As far as she was concerned Christmas could have ended there.

And the littlest of the bunch just enjoyed some extra love from grandparents and sleeping through opening gifts.  The extra love was especially helpful as she was starting to come down with some serious respiratory issues that put us in the ER the day after.

All the girls enjoying the loot in the middle of opening gifts.  

Then it was off to Appling to continue on with the festivities.  We had this sight to greet us, it always makes my heart so full seeing all the stockings hung with care.  We are a blessed family!

 All the grandkids except for Mary Neal, who as mentioned before was quite ill this morning.

 Here they all are all lined up again with these fabulous shirts that my mom made for all the girls.  Sweet Caleb with all these girls to care and look after, he will make a good husband one day.

 Of course my girls had to have a Necy tea party while there, this one was snowman themed and each girl made their own out of marshmallows.

 We got to visit Grandma Wall while there as well.  The girls enjoyed playing balloon toss with her.  

It was a great Christmas with family.  We came home for a few more days of vacation together as a family but it ended up just being a few sick days for all of us.  Oh well at least we had lots of new toys to enjoy in our week where we were confined to our sickly house!

The Christmas Wear

I love the Christmas dresses!  In fact my girls wore a different Christmas dress each Sunday in the month of December because I love them so much. And thanks to the grandparents for supplying all of these cute dresses. 

 Here is a picture of Anna and Ellie wearing the same one.  Too bad it wasn't around for Lucy.

 I know there will be a day soon when the girls will reject wearing cute dresses for Christmas, but until that day I will milk it for all its worth.

 We even rock our tennis shoes with Christmas dresses because we are cool like that.  Hey comfort is key people!

 And what is second best to Christmas dresses, Christmas pjs of course!

 Don't you just want to snuggle in close with these girls. 

Preparing for Christmas

Last weekend we bundled up with smiles on our faces and headed out to look for a Christmas tree. 

The girls loved running around and looking at all the trees, trying to decide which on was that tallest and fattest.

After a while the girls got tired and just started playing hide and seek in the trees.

Then it was back to the house where we put on our Christmas pjs and began decorating. 

  I love getting all the ornaments out each year and thinking back through all the different people who have given us these ornaments and been apart of our lives. 

This picture just makes me laugh, can you guess where 95% of all the ornaments landed on our tree.

 The finished product.

 Then we sat back and enjoyed some hot chocolate while we admired all our hard work.

Look Alikes

Everyone asks who I think Mary Neal looks like and I always say I think she looks like Lucy from her profile.  Here is a picture to prove it. 

Sean thinks MN looks like Anna when she smiles.  And I think she is going to have similar facial characteristics as Ellie, blue eyes and dark curly hair. So there you have it, really they all look alike in some way.

The Littlest

Mary Neal also enjoyed the birthday celebrations because for her it meant extra love time with lots of family.  She especially enjoyed meeting her Aunt KK and having lots of cuddle time with her.

Sisters are so anxious to get their hands on you and want to hold you every chance they get.  Although one might notice there is not a picture of Anna holding Mary Neal, because if I took my eyes off of her to go grab my camera the baby might be smothered to death. Anna is pretty much obsessed with "Baby Mary Neal" as she calls you, wanting to know where you are at all times and always wanting to be right beside you touching you in some way :)

It is fun this time around to see Ellie as a big sister, she is extra gentle with you and loves to comfort you when you are upset or crying.

Although crying is not something you do often Mary Neal.  In general you are such a easy going, content, and peaceful baby.   You sleep beautifully all swaddled up and at nights go about 6-7 hours without waking.  You eat like a champ and also have learned to eat fast, which is great help when there are 3 other kids running around needing attention.

I love this picture because Ellie put on daddy's hat to make you smile, and the other day she made crazy faces at you to try to make you laugh.  Oh how you will grow up being entertained MN.

Speaking of smiles, you are giving them out freely these days although they are hard to catch on camera.  You are also beginning to coo a little bit, I love your sweet noises.

Sweet Mary Neal you are growing up fast and changing so much already which makes me a little teary, but I know these 3 girls are very much looking forward to having you in the midst of all their craziness.

Birthday Craziness

Well we survived another crazy birthday week for the McCann girls so I thought I would highlight some of my favorite things about this super fun week in our house.

It began with a visit from Aunt KK which we all loved!  She joined us for Anna's favorite birthday meal which this year was hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill.  This girl loves hotdogs and actually ate 3 hotdogs on this particular night.  As you can see from the picture she loved being the center of attention and still on a daily basis says "Happy Birthday ME" to get a good laugh out of all of us.  She was convinced for about 2 days that she was 3 1/2 but now is finally settling on the fact that she is 2, and boy does her attitude match that age!

Next up came sweet Lucy.  We began the celebration the night before with a taco dinner of her choice and had Gannie in town to join in the festivities.  Then on her birthday day I got to go to school to have lunch with her and participate in her classroom, reading a story to everyone.  As a 6 year old she feels so old to us, especially since she lost her first tooth just a few days after turning 6.   

The weekend after Anna and Lucy's birthday we had a few friends over to help celebrate our special girls.  Here we are singing to the girls all lined up with their cupcakes.

These are some of Anna's little friends.  It is a little tricky having a party for all 3 girls at once but I try to just invite a few friends of each of the girl's ages and then it is just one chaotic fun play date.

This was an exciting game of musical chairs, which turns out to be much too complicated of a game for ages 6 and under.

You can't really tell from this picture but each girl had cookies with their ages, and picked out their own cupcake flavor. The purple ones pictured here were Ellie's choice.  The theme of the party was Doc McStuffins a favorite show around our house these days.

Here are a few of Lucy's friends from school.

Last but not least came sweet Ellie.  To be honest we are usually all birthday out by the time it gets to Ellie but this year we kept up the momentum by going to the zoo the day before since Lucy had a day off of school.  It was fun to go the zoo as a family and it help keep us in the celebration mindset.  Ellie's choice dinner was spaghetti and meatballs and we saved the gifts that Aunt Curly sent in the mail to open then, making it extra fun. 

And just for fun I will post the cute poem my very talented husband wrote for their birthdays. This has turned out to be a McCann tradition now and something the girls look forward to hearing what their daddy wrote about them.

As nights turn cold and leaves start to fall,

Our house is getting ready for a massive ball;

The year of 2012 brings even ages,

But with all these kids, we may need cages!

Lu's first tooth is 'bout to go,

So come on out and don't miss the show;

Our kindergarten girl is almost six,

She'll be serving lots of treats, never tricks.

The next in line is our curly Ellie,

She's much sweeter than a Jelly Belly;

Never shy, though she's only four,

We'll have fun, with cupcakes galore.

Anna was the baby, but now she's two,

Still a McCann despite her straight hair-do;

Wild and crazy, she never stops,

Keep up with her and you'll party 'till you drop.

Four verses down and we're almost done,

Next year Mary Neal will be turning one;

So please come celebrate our girls with us,

'Cause we can't come to you without a bus!

Pumpkin Patch

We had our first family outing today at the pumpkin farm.  All and all I would say it was a success with Mary Neal sleeping like a champ through it all.  

 I have a feeling it is going to be several years before we get a picture of all 4 girls together smiling but this is a good start.

 Our family of 6!

 This one is always willing to pose at least.

 I am so blessed by this man and so are these little girls.

 Our loot.